More new businesses, as Business Debtline warns of ‘support gap’

Last year saw the highest number of new businesses since comparable records began, with 351,000 “business births” in 2014 according to new figures from the Office of National Statistics.

The number of businesses starting up rose by 1.2 percent between 2013 and 2014. The number of “business deaths” also increased by 3.5 percent to 246,000 during the year, following a fall in 2013. The two-year survival rate for new businesses declined slightly from 75.6 percent to 73.8 percent.

In response to the figures, Business Debtline, the free advice service run by the Money Advice Trust, warned that many new businesses are suffering a “support gap”, leading some into financial difficulty unnecessarily.

“The fact that so many new businesses are being set up is very welcome, and the economic recovery continues to be powered, in many ways, by strong small business growth. However, today’s figures also show that more than a quarter of businesses are still not reaching their second birthday.

“Every year Business Debtline is helping more than 40,000 small business owners to tackle their business and personal financial difficulties – and we need to get the word out that free, independent advice is available for anyone in this situation.

“Many of these problems, however, could be nipped earlier in the bud. We remain concerned that there is a real ‘support gap’ when it comes to new business ventures, with many self-employed people and other small business owners not receiving the support and information they need in those crucial first weeks and months to go on to great things.”